Book Report: Traps, the Drum Wonder - The Life of Buddy Rich

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robcat2075
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Book Report: Traps, the Drum Wonder - The Life of Buddy Rich

Post by robcat2075 »

If you're my age and are not highly into jazz or drummers, most of what you know about Buddy Rich is what you saw of his appearances in the 70s and 80s on "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson". He'd come on, make some snarky comments which Johnny would treat as hi-larious and then play a number with the band.

I got the sense that he was one of that set of older musicians from a previous age that Johnny kept plugging even though that age was long gone.

So why am I reading a biography about Buddy Rich, the jazz drummer?

It's by Mel Tormé! Mr. Chestnuts Roasting and all that. He wrote a great memoir of his year working on the Judy Garland television show. I recommend it. This one is a bit different. Unlike the Garland book, Tormé is not on every page and is not always the wittiest person in the room.

It's structured like Citizen Kane. Tormé starts out with Buddy Rich dead, then goes WAY back to Rich's parents' modestly successful vaudeville career. At the age of two, Buddy demonstrates a surprising talent for drumming and gets appended to the act. Before long, Buddy IS the act, part of the child star wave of the 1920s.

By the mid 1930s Buddy has caught the Swing bug. By the end of the 30s he is among the most prominent of the big band drummers.

Mel Tormé was a first-hand witness to the times and includes lots of insider color...
  • Tommy Dorsey cut off a guy's nose. Not all of it but... when you're an actor, as Jon Hall, star of "Hurricane"(1937), was, you really shouldn't be missing any of it.
  • Gene Krupa had to plead guilty to some sort of a morals charge. He was hiring a minor to go buy his drugs. It all blew over eventually. If that happened today he'd have a tougher time.
  • Buddy Rich kidnapped Lana Turner to try to force her to marry him. Tormé never uses the word "kidnap", she and Rich had been dating, but it doesn't sound like she had wanted to go to Mexico at all.
Among his many talents Mel Tormé was a bit of a drummer himself. His admiration for the skill and accomplishment of Buddy Rich the drummer is well-explained. His frequent disappointment with Buddy Rich the person is also prominent. Buddy Rich was a jackass and anyone who wanted to work with him had to be willing to put up with it.

Frank Sinatra appears frequently in this book via his and Rich's association with the Dorsey band. He doesn't read music... he also doesn't read his contracts. He's always trying to get out of them!

Trombone players do not figure much in this story but Tormé does speak very admiringly of Tommy Dorsey's playing.

Mel Tormé pegs 1939 as the "peak" year for Swing. That "era" was really just a blip on the musical scene. The Dorseys and Goodmans and Shaws of that time had a few years on top and then spent the rest of their lives striving to remain relevant. Buddy Rich worked through that better than most. As the best big band drummer, it didn't matter that the biz was shrinking, he was still getting the first call for what activity was left and had fair success with various bands of his own.

All-in-all, Buddy Rich seems to gotten the fullest return on his talent, enough to balance out the frequent foolishness he made in other regards.

Artie Shaw Band, Buddy Rich on Drums...



>>Robert Holmén<<

Hear me as I play my horn

See my Spacepod movie
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